The Zodiac Jutsu! Our Impossible Mission!
by Faisoru
Summary: This is a crossover my friend and I wrote together. It is between Fruits Basket and Naruto. There will some couplings later on but nothing major.
1. Discovery of a New Jutsu!

It was a calm day in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The sun was shining, the breeze was gentle and...

"KAKASHI SENSEI!"

Ok...maybe it wasn't_ that_ calm.

"You're late again, sensei!" The short blonde boy named Naruto exclaimed.

"He's right," Sakura, his teammate added, "The Fifth expected us over two hours ago."

"Sorry about that," their teacher said, scratching the back of his head.

"So what's your excuse this time?" The third and final member of group 7, Sasuke asked.

"Well...This morning when I woke up I had the oddest craving for strawberries. So I went into the woods to pick some."

"But, sensei," Sakura interrupted, "Strawberries don't grow in Konoha."

Kakashi nodded then added, "And it took me two hours to figure that out."

Since they were use to their sensei's reputation of being late, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura shrugged it off and only hoped that the Hokage would forgive them.

"There's nothing to forgive," The Fifth said when they arrived, "You're right on time."

"What!" All four of them exclaimed.

"Well, you see, I told Kakashi that you all had to be here by ten when really I wanted you here by twelve. I had to factor in his constant lateness." Glowing with pride of accomplishing the impossible, getting Kakashi to arrive on time, Tsunade looked at everyone in her office. Before her stood the original nine rookies, Gai's team and Kakashi.

Looking around also Kakashi asked, "So, where's Gai, Asuma and Kurenai?"

"Gai is giving a motivational speech to all of the students in Iruka's classes..."

"I feel sorry for Konohamaru and his friends," Naruto whispered, jokingly, but stopped once he saw the angry look on Lee's face.

"Then Asuma and Kurenai are both on a mission to the Land of Waves. But it does not matter. It is a simple mission...in fact, it is not really a mission as much as it is training for you all."

"Training, why would you bring us all here for training?" Kiba asked and his dog, Akamaru, barked as if to emphasize a point.

"Well, this is special training which involves all of you to travel together. In an area way west of here there have been rumors of special ninjas who can transform into animals. You all have to go there and see if you can learn from them."

"If we are going to travel that far wouldn't we still need more Jounin to take us there?" Asked Ino as she brushed her hair out of her eyes.

"No, it is not a dangerous course to get there, it is just a long one. Kakashi should be the only needed Jounin and now that Shikamaru is a Chuunin, you should be fine." Ino was a bit scared to have Shikamaru as her leader, the laziest person she knew, but she dropped the topic. "Anymore questions?"

"I have one," interjected Neji, "Who exactly do we contact about this when we get there?"

"Good question." Tsunade shuffled through all of the papers on her desk until she came across a photograph. "I had sent out one of my other Jounins before in order to gather some information. From what he told me he said that the man in this picture is in charge."

She held up the picture so everyone could see. He was young, about Kakashi's age, and had short black hair. Ino, Sakura, Hinata and Tenten all blushed. But it was understandable, the man in the picture was pretty.

"He is a very strong ninja though, "Tsunade continued, "He is very intelligent, cunning and can be dangerous if you don't watch your backs. For all we know he could be an evil genius."

"Tohru, how do you work the rice cooker?" Shigure began to cry over his uncooked rice.

"You call yourself an adult when you always act like a baby!" Kyo yelled as he nibbled on a tuna sandwich, "All you have to do is push the damn button!"

"If the stupid cat can figure out how to work it you should be able to also." A feminine boy with grey hair added.

"What did you say about me being stupid."

"I simply said you were stupid."

"Take that back!"

"But I don't believe in lying."

"Oh there you are, Tohru. I can't figure out how to work this and they began to yell at me."

"It's ok," the pretty brunette said, "I'll make it for you."

"Thank you, you are my hero." Shigure walked over to the table and sat down, singing at the idea of his long awaited cooked rice. "_Cooked rice, cooked rice, everything goes with cooked rice._"

"You really shouldn't cater him like that," Kyo said, ignoring Shigure's hums of joy.

"Oh, I don't mind." Tohru responded with a smile and causing Kyo to blush a bit beneath his orange hair.

Tohru didn't seemed to see Kyo blush, so she obliviously set down the bowl of rice in front of Shigure, who clapped his hands out of joy. "Yay! Rice!" He grinned happily and began to down his meal.

Yuki and Kyo just shook their heads. "It's amazing that he's the one running this house." Yuki mumbled.

He looks like a moron." Naruto commented, squinting at the picture in Tsunade's hands.

"Yes well, don't let his appearance fool you. I'm sure he's very a very talented ninja, who shouldn't be taken lightly."

"Whatever."

Sakura looked from the picture back to Tsunade, "So when do we leave?"

Tsunade walked back behind her desk and placed the picture back into the folder. She plopped down into her seat. "As soon as possible."

Shikamaru gave an unenthusiastic sigh and shrugged, "Well I guess if we have to."

"Let's say we meet up outside the villiage in an hour?" Kakashi suggested, already making his way to the door. If they were going on a long trip, he'd have to make sure he had enough time to get home and pack all of his favorite novels. The others all agreed with a nod and were dismissed.

(One hour later)

The original rookie nine and Gai's team all waited outside the gates of Kohona patiently, Chouji munching on some chips while he waited. Neji turned to Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke with a vein popping out of his head. "Where is that stupid sensei of yours? We can't afford to wait here all day."

Sakura let out a small sigh, "You know him. Always late."

"Over here!" Kakashi called from the gates. Slung over his shoulder was a pretty large knapsack filled to the brim with books.

Naruto grimaced. _How many books does he have?_

Sasuke smacked his forehead. _He's the one who claims that ninja is the art of deception. While he's hauling those things around, we'll be spotted from ten feet away._

"Ready to go?" The happy sensei asked.

"We've been ready." A few of the mumbled in unison.

When they set off they had no idea how long the journey would be. The trip itself would take several days and they would have to travel to a country none of them knew of prior to the mission. Luckily for them they had plenty of questions to keep them occupied for at least 20 minutes.

"So why do we need to know how to transform into animals?" Sasuke asked about two hours after they left the village.

Kakashi thought about it for a minute then said, "Well, it would be a good way to sneak past ninja without them thinking anything is suspicious."

"But when I fought Kiba...and won," Naruto gave Kiba a glance to show him he would never let Kiba live it down, "I was able to transform into Akamaru and no one could tell I was me."

"True but um...I'm sure this is different. Maybe these special jutsus give you special animal abilities."

"Even so," Kiba said, still giving Naruto an 'I'm gonna kill you' death-glare, "I have many abilities and characteristics of a dog. Right, Akamaru." Akamaru barked in response.

"You even smell like a dog," added Naruto.

"Why you!" Kiba lunged at Naruto but was caught by Kakashi.

Naruto stuck his tongue out at Kiba then continued by saying, "And I can even summon the Frog Boss. I don't need to turn into a pathetic animal."

"Well, Naruto I bet..." Kakashi started.

"Wait, I don't even use ninjutsus like you guys," Lee interrupted, "Why did I have to come on this mission?"

"Would you all just listen!" Kakashi interjected. Everyone stopped and stared at him, a little bit shocked. "I've wondered these questions also, but if the fifth gave us this mission then we should follow orders and just do it. There must be a reason for the mission and who know how helpful it could end up being."

They continued on their way until Ino stopped and faced Kakashi-sensei. "What type of animals can these people turn into anyway?"

He stopped, rubbed his chin then responded, "I was told there is one for every member of the zodiac, and the cat."

"You should take the boar, Ino-pig," Sakura whispered.

Ino's face went red. "Shame there are no billboard-brows in the zodiac. You would probably have a lot in common."

As Ino and Sakura crossed their arms and did their best to ignore each other Shikamaru thought to himself _This is going to be a troublesome mission._

And it was. The trip there lasted 4 days and there was not a lot to talk about. The girls swooned over Sasuke, Choji ate, Shino was creepy, and Hinata blushed whenever Naruto came a meter close to her. Oh, and there was this horrible incident involving a coconut and a squirrel which resulted in Naruto losing a chunk of his hair and bruising his kidney but going into details would be, in Shikamaru's words) too troublesome.

It was on the fifth day of the trip, that the group arrived in a small city.

"Are we there yet?" Naruto groaned. A vein popped out of Sakura's forehead. "What part of _long trip_ did you not understand?"

"Um..."

"Oh nevermind."

Kakashi scratched his head and looked around. "We should be close...I think. This is around where the fifth told us he would be." He reached back into his knapsack and fished around for the photo of the man that they were supposed to find it. He pulled it out, after sifting through all of his books for a moment.

"Should we ask around and see if anyone knows where he could be?" TenTen asked, glancing into a shop window. The others agreed that would be the best way to find him.

"Alright let's get sta-" Naruto's screaming was interrupted by even louder cries coming from down the street.

"WHY! WHY CAN'T HE EVER FINISH ANYTHING ON TIME!" A woman was screaming and crying hysterically on her knees in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Who the-?" Kiba began, squinting at the woman down the street, "What the hell is her problem?"

Shikamaru shook his head, "Who cares. It's not our problem."... Well, it was more along the lines that it was too troublesome to care.

Lee took a valiant step away from the group, and struck a dramatic pose, "It is so our problem! A woman in need is any gentleman's problem! I shall tend to her, and help heal her broken spirit!"

"Not again..." TenTen and Neji sighed. It was always headache inducing when Lee started monolougeing.

"Lee's right," Sakura agreed, strangley, "We can't just leave her in the middle of the street like that."

Lee grabbed a hold of Sakura's hands, "My dearest Sakura, you have finally accepted me! I knew that you would help me! Come, let's help the poor woman!" He started dragging her down the street.

"All I did was agree with you!" She screamed and Sasuke glowered in Lee's direction.

_Idiot._

The rest of the young ninja slowly followed the two of them, Kakashi in the rear.

Sakura tapped the short haired woman on the shoulder, "Um, excuse me?"

The woman realed around, he face stained with tears, "What! What do you want!"

Sakura faltered and took a step back when she saw the look on the woman's face.

_Scary. She looks like she's ready to hang herself._

Lee stepped foward, pounding on his chest heroically, "We are here to lift you're broken soul-" He was cut off by Neji and TenTen, who grabbed him by the arms and dragged him to the back of the group.

"You're going to scare her, Lee." Neji said and TenTen nodded in agreement.

"So, what's wrong?" Sakura finally asked. The woman whiped her tears away, "Well...this stupid writer I worked for missed his deadline again today."

"Again?" Naruto asked, putting his hands behind his head. The woman buried her face into her hands and started crying again, "Yes! He always does this! He told me he was going to finish the manuscript today, but when I went over to pick it up, he'd written something completly different!"

"Like what?" Naruto asked.

"Oh I don't even know...It looked like something like 'Icha Icha Paradise'."

Kakashi came barriling through the crowd of younger students, and grabbed the woman by the collar, "Take us to him."

The woman was taken aback, "W-what?"

"You heard me!"

The woman noticed a piece of paper slip out of Kakashi's pocket.

"You dropped something."

"TAKE ME TO HIM!" He ordered again. If he could find the writer of his favorite book, he would be the happiest man on earth. Ino sighed and went to pick up the paper from the ground, since nobody else was going to. The woman noticed who was on the paper.

"Why do you have a picture of my stupid writer?"

"You know him?" Ino asked, holding out the picture for her to see.

"Yeah, unfortunatly. He's the one I was talking about before, who never finishes anything on time."

"So take us to him already!" Kakashi whined and stamped his foot. He would not wait around any longer to meet this guy. After all, he may have a book that Kakashi didn't own.

"Alright, I'll take you to see Shigure. By the way, I'm Mii." The editor replied, finally whipeing all of her tears away and letting a smile shine through.

Mii brought guided them to his house all while going on about how he is late with is work and does not respect her. Every once and awhile she would begin to burst out into tears but Lee would just place a hand on her shoulder and tell her how maybe he wasn't worth the trouble of crying over. Mii disagreed, Lee did not know what hell Shigure put her though.

"Here we are," She sobbed, pointing to a fairly good sized house hidden in a patch of woods.

"Thank you very much, Mii-san," Kakashi said then instructed everyone to thank her. Most did, others just mumbled that is was not worth it.

"There you are, Mii-san," a girl's voice came from behind them. A short girl with long brown hair and two blue bows came running towards them. "Shigure wanted me to give this to you. It's his real manuscript." She bowed as she handed the editor a tanish envelope then faced the ninjas. "Oh, hello. I'm Tohru Honda. Are you all friends of Mii-san?"

Mii, holding the envelope tightly, said through sobs, "Accually...sniff...they are...sniff sniff.. Here to see Shigure...SHIII-GURRRE! Why do you always do this to me?" She collapsed and became hysterical.

Just as Lee leaned over to comfort her again another voice rang out, "It's no use," said the cool voice, "once she's like this there's no getting to her. Shigure does this to all of us."

"Yuki, these people are here to see Shigure. Are they family members?" the young girl asked.

"Not that I know of," he said staring at each ninja. "We might as well bring them to the house. Shigure may know them."

They headed to the house as Mii sluggishly got up and left. "He always does this, he hates me, he really hates me."


	2. Meet the Partners

The group followed the feminine looking boy and young girl down the hall. Kakashi could barely contain his excitement, and the rest of the young ninja were giving him strange looks.

_Oh kami-sama...He's giddy._ Sasuke thought, nearly smacking his forehead in exasperation.

The boy slid the door open to one of the rooms and called softly, "Shigure?"

"Yuki? I thought I told you not to disturb be when I'm working!" Shigure said dramatically, glaring slightly up at the boy.

Yuki frowned, "Working?"

The group looked down at the table, which was a complete mess. There were open jars a paint laid out all across the desk, and random pieces of paper strewn about. There were different colors of fingerprints all over the papers and desk.

"What kind of work, Shigure-san?" Tohru asked, staring at all of the items on Shigure's desk. The writer held up a sheet of paper with different colors painted across it.

"Oh you know..." the writer replied, dipping his finger into the blue paint and smearing it across the paper.

Yuki nearly fell over, "You call finger painting work?"

"Mii-chan might not, but I do!" The writer said, putting green on his "work"

Sasuke looked up at Kakashi, "This is the 'super powerful genius' we're supposed to be learning from?"

Kakashi scratched the back of his head, "Apparently."

Naruto scoffed, "He's an idiot!"

"Yeah," Kiba added, "He's even stupider then you, Naruto."

"Yeah-...Hey! You wanna go dog-boy!" Naruto screamed and ran up right in Kiba's face. Hinata, who was right next to Kiba, nearly fainted seeing Naruto so close.

"P-please don't fight, Naruto-kun, Kiba-kun." She squeaked out. Naruto looked from her to Kiba before sighing and nodding, "Fine."

Kiba blushed a little, "Alright."

"So...who are all these people, Yuki?" Shigure asked, interrupting any discussions the ninja were having.

"You mean you don't know them?" Yuki replied, his brows shooting up in surprise. Shigure shook his head, "Nope. Never seen them in my life."

Yuki scratched his head, "Well Mii-san said that they were here to see you."

"Oh...well, okay. You and Tohru-kun may leave then." Shigure said, nodding towards the door.

"Alright...and Shigure?" Yuki said before leaving.

"Yes?"

"Clean up the paints." and the door was shut, leaving all of the ninja and Shigure to discuss their business.

Shigure ignored Yuki's request and left his paints on the table, however, he did at least clean off his hands using a towel. Standing up, he looked at everyone for a minute before asking, "So what _are_ all of you doing here?"

Naruto jumped forward and began to yell, "We are nin-" but his yells were soon muffled by Sakura's and Sasuke's hands. "Shut-up," they whispered, "we can't reveal we're ninjas until we get the 'ok' from Kakashi Sensei!"

"You see," Kakashi began in a very calm voice, "We were sent here to learn your Zodiac technique."

"The zodiac wha-?"

"Technique. We know that the members of this 'household' have the abilities to turn into one of the members of the Zodiac and we all came to learn how."

Shigure stared in pure awe. Who were these people and how did they know about the zodiac. "Umm...well...if you would just follow me I'll get a few more people here and we'll discuss it. Please...um...make yourself at home in the sitting room." He ran off and headed to a phone.

Although he was out of sight the ninjas could hear the words "Hari..." "Never believe it..." and "Weird clothes..."

"My clothes are not weird," Lee whispered to himself as he followed everyone else to what they could only guess was the sitting room Shigure mentioned. "I don't think I ever said they were weird." Everyone turned around to see the young girl from before. She was holding a big plate of rice balls and had a goofy smile on her face.

"I didn't mean you," Lee said, "What are those for."

"Well, I thought all of you might be hungry. I figured that maybe you all traveled far to get here. I made these for you to eat, maybe the rice balls can help restore some of your energy."

The young ninjas smiled, "Thank you."

"No problem," She blushed, "would any of you like tea also?"

"You should really stop catering to people like this," an unknown voice came from the front door, "People can take advantage of you easily if you act like this all of the time."

"Sorry, Kyo-kun." A tall tan boy, with orange hair, came out from the kitchen. "You don't have to apologize for it either." Looking around at the huge group of people he turned back to Tohru and asked, "Did you invite strangers into the house again?"

"Don't be silly Kyo-kyo," called the voice of a familiar finger-paint artist, "They're my guests."

"Don't call me Kyo-kyo! Besides, do you even know these people?"

"Yep, they are our new students," he said crossing his arms and nodding.

"Really?" Naruto, Kiba and Lee all yelled at the same time.

He nodded again then added, "But only under certain circumstances."

Everyone stared. "What do we have to do?" Neji asked. Shigure put on a serious expression "Are you sure you want to do this you will have to do everything I say and follow my orders."

There was a heavy silence in the room. No one said a word they just looked at one-another.

"Wait, students for what?" Kyo asked, breaking the silence.

"They came here to learn how to transform into animals of the Zodiac like us."

"What!" Kyo and Yuki yelled together.

"Yep, even Hari agreed to it."

"Really!"

"Uh-Huh."

**Flashback**

"Absolutely not, Shigure."

"Oh please, Hari! It would be fun. You always ruin my fun. I just want to play with them for awhile then send them packing. I'll never let them find out."

"No"

"But..."

"No."

"There was this one boy that looked very mature, perhaps he could help around the office."

"I don't need help."

"There was also this kid with weird clothes. I bet if we have him work with Aya it would keep him out of your hair for a while."

"..."

"Oh you're thinking about it aren't you."

"They can stay for a few days. But in one week or less I'm coming and erasing their memories of this, understand."

"Yes, sir. Don't worry, by the time I'm done having my fun with them they'll forget why they came here all by themselves. Or at least be too ashamed to even speak of what happened."

**End Flashback**

"So, here's what we are going to do. I have set you each up with a different member of the Zodiac to train you." Shigure pulled a piece of paper out from his robes then continued, "Since I do not know your names I'll tell you one by one who you are paired with. You first." he said pointing to Ino.

"My name's Ino," She said in a hurry. Shigure looked up from the paper, "You're joking, right? I originally had you with the horse, but due to your name...you'll be paired with Kagura, the boar."

Ino stared at Shigure in shock _I bet forehead girl put him up to this!_ Looking over at Sakura, Ino was not surprise to see an expression of great joy.

Shigure continued going through the list, meanwhile Tohru leaned over to Yuki and said, "I didn't know people can get trained to become one of the Zodiac."

"They can't," Kyo interrupted, "I still want to know who these people are."

"Me too. What is Shigure planning?"

After, 15 minutes his list was complete:

Kyo (cat)– Shikamaru

Yuki (rat)– Sasuke

Me (dog)– Kakashi

Hari ("dragon")– Neji

Ayame (snake)– Lee

Kagura (boar)– Ino (ha ha)

Haru (ox)– Kiba

Momiji (rabbit)– Shino

Rin (horse)– Tenten

Kisa (tiger)– Hinata

Hiro (sheep)– Naruto

Ritsu (monkey)– Choji

Tohru– Sakura

The group looked over the list with wide eyes. Each one growing pretty eager to meet whomever they were paired up with.

"So when do we get to meet all these people?" Naruto asked, snatching the paper out of Sasuke's hands.

"In awhile," Shigure replied, folding his arms inside of his robe, "I'll call them up and ask them to meet you all here." There was a moment of silence before Kyo coughed to bring attention to himself, Yuki and Tohru in the back of the room.

"Oh!" Shigure sweat-dropped and pointed to the three, "But I guess I forgot about those three. Now would be a perfect time for introductions I suppose." He pointed to the gray-haired boy, "This is Yuki Sohma."

Sasuke remembered that that was who he was paired with and let out a small sigh of relief. The boy looked normal enough, at least he didn't look like a certain obnoxious moron.

Shigure then pointed to the orange haired boy, "And that's Kyo-Kyo."

A pair of cat ears popped up on Kyo's head as he screamed, "I thought I told you not to call me Kyo-Kyo!" Shigure hid his face behind his hands sheepishly, "Eeep! Kyo's scaring me!"

"Quite whining!" Kyo screamed, his fangs showing. Shikamaru shoved his hands into his pockets and his shoulders slumped.

_Great. I'm stuck with some loudmouthed kid. Just what I needed._

"Tohru, Kyo's yelling at me and scaring me!" Shigure complained, much like Momiji would do.

Tohru smiled awkwardly, "Um...Kyo-kun...maybe you should-"

"Aw hell with it! I'm going on the roof!" Kyo stomped out of the room and slammed the door behind him. Shikamaru's eyebrow's went up slightly.

_The roof? Well, at least I'll be able to get some cloud watching done. Maybe this won't be too troublesome after all._

Shigure sighed, "All right...Oh! And last but not least, this lovely young lady is the one and only Tohru Honda." The brunette blushed and looked down at the floor. "Oh no, no! Shigure-san you're too kind...I..um...does anyone want more tea?"

Shigure nodded and smiled, "Sounds good. I'll just go and see about everyone meeting up here later. Bye-bye!" Shigure waved to the group of confused ninjas on his way out.

"This place...is weird." Naruto said, still starring at the door in a daze.

"That's putting it mildly." Sakura mumbled. "Can I help you with the tea, Tohru?" She asked. Since the two of them were paired up and all, Sakura thought that she should start spending time with her.

"Oh, but you're the guests. I couldn't let you do the work..." Tohru said, "But I had better go and check on Kyo-kun first. Sometimes he won't come down for hours..."

"Such a sweet and innocent youth!" Lee's voice was heard from the back of the crowd. Everyone took a step away from him and stared at him in awe. "So kind, caring and affectionate. She is almost as beautiful as my dear Sakura!" Lee proclaimed.

"Eh?" Tohru said, not really understanding what this strange boy was talking about. Lee looked back and forth between Sakura and Tohru, "Oh! What cruel fate! How can I choose between two visions of loveliness!"

Sakura began to push Tohru out of the room, while Neji and TenTen tried to shut Lee up.

"Don't worry about him, Tohru. He's harmless." Sakura told her, shutting the door behind them.

"He seemed really nice. He's a lot like Ayame-san." Tohru giggled a little.

"Well, then I'm sure they'll get along great," Sakura laughed.

"I'd better go and check on, Kyo-kun. I'll see you later, Sakura-chan." Tohru bowed slightly before running off towards the roof.

"I just came up with my own personal mission," Ino whispered as she stepped into the kitchen, Tenten and Hinata following close behind.

"What are you thinking?"

"Well, Shika's partner and yours seem to be pretty chummy," she said with a grin growing on her face.

Tenten quickly stepped in, "I think we should work together to get them together."

Sakura began to grin like Ino, "We should! for once all of the girls on a mission. No noisy idiots..."

"Lazy bastards or chunky kids..."

"Or lovesick boys with bowl-cuts to trouble us!"

"Are you in, Hinata?" She stared at her feet and tried her hardest to find the words. She did not really understand relationships or how to make them work, but maybe if she helped with this she could learn a bit more and eventually... "Yes."

"Great!" Ino exclaimed "the women of Konoha will complete this mission!"

"A female-only mission? Sounds like just a waste of time to me."

"Shut-up, Shikamaru! This is stuff you can't understand!"

"Like I'd want to understand this stupid stuff...where's the cat guy?"

"On the roof still."

"Thanks." He headed up the staircase when three pairs of hands took hold of him.

"No you don't," Ino yelled grabbing his neck, "Leave the two of them alone."

"Let go of me!"

"Not until you promise to leave them alone," Sakura said grabbing his right arm.

"I don't think it's me they have to worry about, you're all mad!"

Holding his left arm Tenten told him, "We are not! We just want to set them up. They would make such a cute couple."

As slight grin came to Shikamaru's face as he stopped struggling, "You just want to set them up because none of you can get your own boyfriends."

All three let go in shock of what he said. He put his hands in his pockets and went back down the stairs, "Its too troublesome to go up now."

"Why's that" Ino said thru gritted teeth.

"They're coming down."

Everyone turned around to see Tohru standing next to Kyo. "Sorry, did we keep you waiting?" Tohru said.

"Um...no."

Sakura leaned over to Tohru and asked, "So, what were you two doing for so long?"

"I asked Kyo-kun what he wanted for dinner. He said that we should go out."

"Cooking for all of you would be too much for her," he added.

"Oh...ok."

Hinata came shuffling over to the stairs...everyone left her in the kitchen. "I'm sorry to interupt anything, um...but someone arrived."

"Really," Tohru asked, "Who was it, may I ask?"

"I believe that she was the-"

"KYO! MY LOVE!"

Kyo's eyes widened in fear as he started to make a break for the door, but was instantly pinned down by a girl with shoulder-length brown hair.

"Kyo-kun!" She shouted happily, nearly squeezing the life out of him.

"Damn it, Kagura! Get the hell off me!" Kyo tried to squirm out of the girl's grasp, but he failed miserably. Ino blinked at the mention of the girl's name.

_So that's Kagura._

Kagura wouldn't release her strangle-hold on Kyo, "Oh but you I missed you so much, Kyo-kun! I'm so happy we're all going out to dinner tonight! It'll be just like a date!"

"I'd rather die..." Kyo muttered under his breath. Kagura heard him though, and she instantly snapped.

"WHAT WAS THAT, MY LOVE!" She howled twisted Kyo's arm behind his head. Tohru started to wave her arms around frantically, "Um...Kagura-chan...please don't-...I think you're hurting-"

Kagura's mood ratically changed at the drop of a hat. She released Kyo and started bawling, "Oh Kyo...Who did this to you?"

Ino rolled her eyes, "Just great. She's skitso."

"Kagura, try to leave him in one piece, okay?" Came Shigure's voice from the doorway. Kakashi was standing beside him.

"Well I hope you're all hungry, because I've asked everyone to meet us at a restaurant. It was quite the reservation." Shigure said, leaning against the frame of the door.

"I know I'm hungry!" Naruto shouted from behind the two of them. He squeezed into the room with all of the girls and Kyo. "When do we leave?"

"In about five minutes. Do me a favor and round everyone up, will you?" Shigure asked them. They nodded and went off to look for the others.

The trip was a pretty long one filled with interesting conversation. Kakashi could not stop talking to Shigure about his books. Shigure soaked up the complements and did not even try to act modest. Yuki and Sasuke basically stood in silence and did their best to ignore Naruto who kept talking about what he believed the sheep would be like, "I bet he is more of a ram...and he's very strong...and I bet he loves ramen, but not as much as I do of course!" Tohru and Sakura were talking about many random things such as school (in which they were complete opposites), cooking, and the members of the zodiac...this was when Sakura found out Tohru could not transform, but she didn't care much. Then there were Ino and Kagura they talked about boys they liked, the evil girls that took those boys away and then...fighting. "My Kyo could beat anyone when it comes to fighting," Kagura exclaimed.

"I'm sorry but I think either of my teammates could beat him easily!"

Both Kyo and Shikamaru, who were walking quietly along, picked up their heads...they knew what was coming. Both slowly began to back away when a set of hands grabbed each of their collars and pulled them over.

"How about this," Ino said, "If carrot-top is so much stronger than Shika here we have them fight."

"WHAT?" Both boys yelled at once.

"Good idea. They'll fight tomorrow night. Tomorrow during the day I am going to train Kyo to fully make sure he beats your pineapple-head," Kagura responded.

"Uh...wait...my head does not look like a pineapple...also, I'm not fighting!"

"Same here."

Both girls leaned in with an evil look in their eyes, "Neither of you have a choice in the matter."

"Eep..."

Arriving at the restaurant was a relief for most. Those who had not yet met their partners were looking forward to it.

Looking around, Shigure smiled and waved a group of people over to the ninjas. "Those who have not met their partner yet, please line up."

Everyone did as was instructed and looked at the approaching crowd. They were all very attractive, to say the least, and there sure seemed to be a variety of people. There was a young boy with pale blonde hair to a punk-ish looking teen with black and white hair. Shigure pulled out the piece of paper from before then walked over to the zodiac members. One by one he pulled them over to one of the ninjas. Each ninja had a worried expression on, besides Naruto. "Old man! Where's my partner...I want to meet mine first!"

"If you insist...and don't call me old man you little..."Shigure faded off as he went over to the group and grabbed the hand of the sheep. "Naruto, meet Hiro, the sheep."

"What! This runt is the sheep!"

"Look who's calling me a runt," Hiro responded in his usual sarcastic voice with crossed arms.

"Hiro-kun" "Naruto-kun" rang two small voices at the same moment. The young girls looked at each other.

"Hinata, this is Kisa, your partner...it seems you already have a bit in common." Shigure giggled as he poked Hinata's arm, "huh?"

They blushed and quietly added a "Nice to meet you," with a bow.

Rubbing his chin Shigure paced the restaurant, "Who next?"

"Me next, Shigure sensei!" the boy with the bowl-cut yelled throwing his hand in the air.

"Ok, Lee. This is Ayame," Shigure brought over a tall man with long silver hair, "He's Yuki's brother."

"Don't say that," Yuki yelled.

_Yuki has a brother? What's so bad about him, he can't nearly be as bad as mine. _Sasuke thought.

"Now dearest brother, that is no way to speak to your superiors. Come here and give your brother a big hug." Aya threw open his arms and skipped over to Yuki with his gorgeous coat fluttering gently around him.

With a shocked expression (and a bit of vomit in his mouth) Sasuke thought once more, _actually in a sick way...this guy makes my brother not seem so bad in a weird way...maybe I'll even write him when I get back._

"Lee," Aya said re-directing his attention, "Are you prepared to learn all you can from me about the many important things in life!"

"Yes, Aya-sensei! I am as ready as the springtime of youth itself!"

"Springtime of youth? I like it! You shall become my new work of art!"

"Yes, Aya-sensei!"

Everyone else stood there and stared...none of them ever wanted to see that again.

All was silent until two voices spoke up to say, "freaks."

One boy was a brunette with a puppy on his head, the other had two hair colors and more piercings than most boys had.

"I'm really good with this," Shigure said as he patted himself on the back, "Kiba meet Haru, the ox and your partner."

"Thank God, I was afraid I would get a real freak, you're ok though," mumbled Kiba.

"Same here, nice jacket by the way," Haru responded.

"Ok, who's left..." he scanned everyone left then checked his list. "Oh, yes. Neji, you are with Haru. Both of you seem too serious for my taste so I felt put the two boring people together.

"You really need to start acting your age, Shigure," Haru said. Neji nodded in agreement then stood next to Haru, very happy with whom his partner was.

"Next is Shino," a large grin grew on Shigure's face which made Shino feel slightly uneasy.

"Shino, you'll be with...Momiji! Please step forward, Momiji."

The pale blonde dressed somewhat like a girl in frills and colors came forward to say, "hello, Shino! I'm Momiji! We'll have lots of fun together I can tell!"

"..."

"Come on! Cheer up Mr. Grouch!" Momiji ran over and grabbed Shino's arm. Shino said nothing as he simply glared at Momiji. "Wahh! Tohru, Shino's scaring me!" Momiji cried as he hid behind Tohru."

"Ok...Only two groups left." Shigure started to get giddy, everyone else just wanted to eat. "Rin, because I think it would be best for girls to stay with the girls, you'll be with Tenten." Tenten looked Rin over. Rin was hardly wearing much, a short skirt tight top, it didn't leave much for the imagination however, it could have been worse. These thoughts crossed her mind as she looked back at Lee and Aya.

"And Finally! Chouji and Ritsu!" Shigure clapped then added, "now lets eat!"

"FOOD!" Chouji shouted and dove into the plate set in front of him. Ritsu's eyes bugged out of his head when he saw how impolite his partner was when it came to food.

Tohru went to pull her chair out to sit down, but Yuki quickly rushed over and pulled it out for her.

"Let me help you, Miss Honda."

Tohru smiled at him and took a seat, "Oh, thank you, Yuki-kun."

_SLAM!_

The sound of Kyo's fist, which came crashing down onto the table, caused everyone to go silent. Kyo looked around, before lowering his head and blushing.

"Um...Kyo-kun?" Tohru asked, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Kyo grumbled.

_Damn rat._

A few of the ninja girls giggled. The orange haired boy was so obvious, making a scene like that!

"Careful, Kyo," Shigure warned. "Try not to get _too _jealous."

"I WAS NOT JEALOUS! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU KNOW!" Kyo screamed furiously, his fist connecting with the table again.

After that, things settled down. The zodiac members and each of their ninja partners started becoming acquainted. Everyone's quiet chattering was interrupted when Shigure tapped on his glass with his spoon and stood up.

He cleared his throat to get their attention, "Ah-em, I have an important announcement to make."

"This should be good..." Hiro muttered sarcastically and Naruto scoffed.

"...If you take a blue cotton-candy sheep, and breed it with a pink cotton-candy sheep, do you get a purple one?" Shigure asked, scratching his head. "Because I've been thinking about this all night, and can't come up with an answer-"

Hatori grabbed Shigure's sleeve and yanked him back down into his seat, "Just be quiet and sit down."

"B-but, Hari! Why do you always have to spoil all my fun!" Shigure whined and Neji shook his head.

_What a complete idiot._


	3. New Mission: Shopping?

"Rise and shine everyone!" A joyous voice rang throughout the house. It was about 7:00 when everyone in the house was awoken with a jolt as Shigure ran to everyone's room to wake them.

"Wha-? This is way too early," Shikamaru said as he scratched his head.

"Early! Yeah right! I have a busy day planned for all of us...and by us I mean you six and the others."

Tohru, Sakura, Kyo, Shikamaru, and Sasuke looked at him in confusion, Yuki had not come down yet...he did not do mornings well. The room was silent until he finally did enter, Shigure did not want to share his news until everyone was there. Yuki sluggishly dragged his feet into the kitchen and collapsed in the nearest chair.

"Good, now that Yuki's here I'll explain. Last night, when we went to the restaurant everyone else there was staring at us..."

"It was probably because of that dumb sheep question," Kyo mumbled.

"No, they were staring at us because our guests have bizarre clothing. That's why our jobs today is to get them all a new set of outfits!"

"You call that a mission," Sasuke said as he tried to shake Yuki awake.

"Yep! Each Sohma family member...and Tohru...will choose a new outfit or set of clothes for their new ninja-friend. You will have all day to go shopping and by six o'clock everyone will report back here to present what they have accomplished."

Sakura scratched her chin as she gazed upon Tohru. Her choice of clothes is cute...I can deal with this. Yuki's clothes are nice too, I can't wait to see how Sasuke will turn out!

Shikamaru sighed and propped his chin up on the table with his hand, "This is going to be troublesome..."

"Of course it will!" Shigure smiled and clapped his hands together in glee. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to call the main house and tell everyone what we're all doing today."

"Bastard," Kyo mumbled under his breath as Shigure left the room.

Tohru didn't hear him and smiled brightly, "This should be fun. I hardly ever have to go shopping."

Sakura's eyes widened in amazement, "You never go shopping?!"

"Well...I...um...no." Tohru replied sheepishly. "It's just that I'm really busy all the time, and-"

"Well then we can shop for each other, okay?" Sakura interrupted and Tohru nodded enthusiastically, "Okay, Sakura-chan."  
Sakura smiled sweetly, trying to mask an oncoming devilish smile.

This'll be a good first step to our plan for her and Kyo.

Shigure came bounding back into the room, "Okay! Everyone agreed to meet us up at the mall in town! Let's move out, people!"

"Is he always this annoying?" Shikamaru muttered lazily to Kyo.

"Pretty much."

With a heavy sigh Shikamaru followed the others to the mall.

At the mall, as Shigure said, everyone else was there. The young ninjas ran over to their friends to discuss what they thought about their Zodiac counterpart. Most were quite pleased with who they were paired with.

"Yeah, Haru and I are getting a long great. Today he even said that he's gonna get me a coat like his," Kiba said, his chest swelling up with pride. He turned and looked at Hinata, "How is it going for you? Are the two of you getting along?"

She blushed then stuttered, "O-oh yes. Kisa is very kind, she and I even like similar things, Kiba-kun."

However, not all of the groupings were going as well as others.

"I hate that brat," Naruto yelled as he ran up to the others. "He complains about everything! His mother made us dessert last night and first it wasn't sweet enough then it was too sweet. And can you believe he doesn't like ramen! I don't believe it!"

Sasuke crossed his arms, "You're right, Naruto, what on earth could you have in common with an annoying complaining brat?" Naruto glared at Sasuke and only responded with, "not funny."

Trying to break the tension a bit, Sakura turned to her right and asked, "So, Lee, how is Ayam...where's Lee?" Oddly enough Lee was not standing in the ninja group at all.

"He's still with Ayame. He never left his side," Ten Ten interrupted.

"Lee only ever acted like this with Gai-sensei," Neji added.

"Yeah, I just hope he does not start wearing long purple coats like Aya though," Ten Ten then turned to Neji. "How is the dragon, Neji-kun."  
"He's very interesting, a doctor in fact. Last night I began to talk to him about chakra, he seemed very interested."

"Hello everyone," a happy voice rang, destroying any conversations being held at said time. Momiji skipped over to everyone, waving his arms as if he were attempting to fly. "Sorry we're late. I guess we woke up a little late and missed Hari, so we had to walk."

No one really paid attention to Momiji's explanation, they were all far too distracted by Shino. Shino, who usually looked calm and creepy, looked as if he were about to murder the first thing which spoke to him. His hands were at his sides, forming such tight fists that his knuckles were as white as snow.

"Man, what happened," Kiba whispered to Shino.

He glanced over and said, "This child is like a mass of cotton candy. The bed I had to sleep in was pink with white bunnies on it...he tried to get me to wear star shaped sunglasses...and I swear, if I hear about the bees singing 'Momiji' one more time I'll insure that he and all of his little birds and frogs are eaten from the inside out by my bugs." Shino stormed off followed by a cheerful Momiji.

Everyone just stared until Kiba said, "I guess that was Shino's form of a rant. It sounded as if he was about to scream."

Hinata looked over at Shino, who was currently shaking visibly from under his coat, "I hope Shino-kun doesn't um...attack that child."

Kiba waved her off nonchalantly, "Nah, he'll never get that angry."

Naruto put his hand on his hips, "I'll give him a week."

Their conversation was interrupted by Shigure, who came over followed by all of the other Sohmas and Tohru. "All right everyone, here's the plan: You all have until 6:00 to pick out your trainee a new outfit! You'll be graded on your success!"

Kyo looked at him like he had three heads, "You're joking right?"

"Nope!-"

"Yes he is. Don't worry about being graded. You're not going to be." Hartori spoke up from beside Shigure, who looked like he was ready to burst into tears from his fun being spoiled yet again.

Each zodiac member split up with their 'apprentice' and went off to search the mall for a new wardrobe.

((Aya and Lee))  
"Where shall we embark to first, Aya-sensai?" Lee exclaimed, excitedly.

Aya looked around before pointing to a shop that was filled with brightly colored men's clothing. There were racks of long, flowing coats and fluffy boas and hats everywhere. "That is the perfect store! Shall we?"

Lee nodded and the two of them ran across to the store. The moment they stepped through the clear doors, a voice cried out from the back of the room.

"OH GOD! AYA'S BACK! HUZZAH!" A tiny balding man in an electric blue jacket came rushing to the front of the store, "We had thought that you wouldn't be back, since you used to be a regular here and all!"

Aya laughed and smiled at the man, "Of course, but I've been busy running my fabric shop-"

"I should have known a genius like yourself would be busy with such things!" The store owner replied, nodding vigorously. "So, what are you looking for today?"

"I'm shopping for my friend here," Aya nodded toward Lee. "We'll need something that emphasizes the...oh, what was that phrase again Lee?"

"The spring time of youth?"

"Yes! That's it!" Aya exclaimed. "Quickly, we must find something that shows off his 'Springtime of youth'!"

"Wonderful idea, Aya-sensei!" Lee exclaimed.  
"Yes, yes, brilliant idea, Aya! That could be our new clothing line," the manager said, spreading his arms dramatically, "Springtime of youth."

((Shino and Momiji))

"How about this one?" A pink and frilly shirt was held in front of Shino. He said nothing, but his glare was enough to get Momiji to put it back on the rack.

"Shino, you turned down everything in this store, should we try a new one?" Shino nodded, "Fine, how about…that one!" Shino looked in the direction that Momiji pointed. He could feel the bugs in his skin cringe as he noticed what the store was, Limited Too.

"How about…no," but when he turned to look at the bunny, Shino saw he was already in the store singing once more.

"What did I say about the bees I--" He stopped mid-sentence when he realized; this is my chance to escape!

Shino turned around and broke into a run towards the elevator, but as soon as he passed the water fountain he felt a hand tug him by the collar of his jacket.

"Silly, the store's the other way," Momiji giggled as he pulled Shino back. Shino grabbed Momiji by both arms and hoisted him into the air preparing to throw him into the fountain, but he stopped when Momiji began to kick and scream," Wahhhhh! Tohru, Sakura, Shino's going to throw me in the fountain!"

"When you're with me," Shino whispered, "No one can hear you scream."

"Um, Shino, would you mind putting Momiji down, please."

Shino continued to glare at nothing in particular, but put Momiji down anyway. The blond haired boy ran over and nearly jumped on Tohru, if someone hadn't stopped him.

"Damn happy rabbit! What did I tell you about jumping on her?" Kyo growled, releasing his grip on Momiji's shirt. Momiji started to tear up a bit, "B-but I wanted to thank her for saving meee!"

"Well do it without jumping on her!" Kyo screamed. Shino noticed that he had another opportunity to escape, and took his chances again.

"Um...Momiji-kun?" Sakura began, "Shino's escaping again."

Momiji stopped crying long enough to turn around and see Shino walking away. He got up and quickly ran after him.

"Where do you think you're going silly!" He shouted to Shino, who started running now, "We still have time to go to more stores! You need a pink shirt still."

And after that, the group just tuned out. Sakura then turned to Tohru, "Well, I guess we should get to shopping again." Tohru nodded in reply and then turned to Kyo.

"See you later Kyo-kun. Good luck with your shopping!" She said, giving Kyo a brilliant smile. Kyo felt his cheeks start to heat up, "Y-yeah. Whatever."

Tohru and Sakura then turned and headed towards a nearby store, giggling and smiling the whole way there.

Shikamaru sighed and walked up next to Kyo, "Tell me again why we had to come over here?"

Kyo blushed again, "Nevermind! Come on, let's get this over with." He marched off in a huff, and Shikamaru let out another sigh and followed him.


End file.
